The Paradox Web
by FireChaos
Summary: After a mysterious attack, Sakura, Syaoran and Eriol are sent back into the past and become stuck in a time when Clow Reed still lived. Now the trio must battle a new enemy intent on destroying them.
1. The Ripples in Fate

**The Paradox Web**

Randomly decided to write a story.

Right, this story will contain mentions of S+S, but don't expect lots of romance. There will also be some fluff around.

Disclaimer: Applies for the whole story: I do not in any way, shape or form own _Cardcaptor Sakura_ or its characters which belong to CLAMP.

**Chapter 1  
The Ripples in Fate**

Eriol Hiiragizawa sighed and rubbed his temples, closing his eyes to block out the world around him and the one within his mind. Attempting to see what lay ahead was proving futile, the most he could glean from the murky shadows was that dark times lay ahead, something sinister and mysterious. After that, the shadows became tangled within each other, as if unsure of what was to happen.

Sighing once more Eriol pushed all thoughts from his mind and instead focused on his guardians, Spinel was attempting to read another of the many ancient books, which is all he seemed to do. Nakuru, obviously bored, was sitting beside Spinel while dangling a piece of chocolate in front of his face. Needless to say Spinel was having difficulty focusing on the book.

"Come on Suppi-chan, you know you want it," this was accompanied with a slight wiggle from the chocolate.

"I most certainly do not." The fact that Spinel had forgotten to correct the use of his nickname coupled with a slight edge in his voice made his denial seem somewhat unconvincing. Eriol noticed Spinel's eyes flicking from the page to the chocolate, page, chocolate, briefly he wondered if he should stop Nakuru before his house ended up demolished via sugar-high Spinel.

His musings however, were cut short by a sudden, burning pain. Hissing he doubled over, arms wrapped around his waist for all the good it would do. It felt as if something was burning at his aura, his magic, corroding it like acid, he knew that if he were to look at his skin, there would be no physical sign of harm. He was vaguely aware of his guardians calling him, of someone's arms wrapping themselves around him before his mind was blinded by pain, his last thoughts were that at least he didn't have to worry about a sugar-high sun guardian.

Nakuru gazed down at the boy cradled against her, he was shivering and whimpering in pain. Not knowing what to do she hugged him closer, willing the pain to stop. Spinel hovered above her shoulder, book and chocolate forgotten.

"What's wrong with him?" Nakuru questioned the sun guardian.

Spinel just shook his head, "His aura's being attacked, but by who and from where…" he shook his head again in hopelessness before flying down and curling up against Eriol.

* * *

"Oh Sakura-chan I have the perfect idea for your next costume!" Tomoyo's eyes sparkled as she stared into the distance, dreaming of the ideal costume for Sakura.

"Hoe! But Tomoyo-chan, I've already tried on over ten of you're costumes this week," Sakura's mutterings managed to pull Tomoyo out of her fantasy, if she hoped this would put Tomoyo off, she was sadly mistaken as Tomoyo gasped in horror.

"Is that all!" Sakura sweat-dropped at her friends antics and began edging away from her as she began ranting about how her poor Sakura-chan must be feeling so neglected and that from now on she was just going to work harder.

"Well, now you've done it," Syaoran decided to state the obvious for Sakura's benefit whilst trying to blend in with the surrounding cushions, he'd found that he had lately become a victim of Tomoyo's costume obsession.

The three friends were all seated in then Sakura's living room, Sakura's dad and brother could be heard in the kitchen finishing the dishes, the occasional 'gaki' floated in courtesy of Touya, soon followed by Yukito's soft reprimand. Yukito had gone along to help with the dishes, but soon discovered a horde of cupcakes and pastries and soon forgot as he and Kero, who had somehow smelt the food from upstairs dug in.

It was at this time that the dark pain decided to assault the group.

Sakura was in the middle of her sentence when the pain struck, instantly the world around her vanished as her eyes squeezed shut. She heard Tomoyo calling her name and running as Yukito, who had been coming in to ask if they wanted any cupcakes, dashed over to, calling her and Syaoran, Kero followed echoing Yukito's calls. A thump in the background and her brother's voice shouting 'Otou-san!' barely registered.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when the pain finally ceased. Blinking tiredly she managed to open her eyes, the world around her was blurred, there was a lump of brown-ish green next to her which soon registered as Syaoran. She turned her gaze and met a blob of violet and beige. Blinking quickly her vision soon settled to reveal a worried Tomoyo, next to her was Yukito, his gaze flicking from her to Syaoran.

A noise caught their attention and both Tomoyo and Yukito turned to see Touya carrying the limp body of Fujitaka in.

"Otou-san," Sakura tried to stand but her vision wavered and she fell, Tomoyo managing to catch her and steady her as she slumped to the floor.

"You should rest Sakura-chan," she didn't attempt to disguise the worry in her voice. Wearily Sakura nodded as Yukito muttered something similar to Syaoran. Not bothering to look for a cushion Sakura lay down on the floor, closing her eyes once more as oblivion welcomed her.

* * *

When Sakura next woke she noticed that most of the pain and weariness had gone. Pushing herself up she noted that someone had carried her to her room and that the early morning sun from the morning had been replaced by the long shadows and orange glow of dusk. Suddenly, the whole event from earlier came rushing back, she gasped, Syaoran-kun! Otou-san! She had to see if they were alright. She hastily pushed the covers back and made to jump out of bed, but her aching muscles soon stopped her and she groaned in annoyance.

"Sakura!" Kero was immediately upon her "Are you feeling better? Is something the matter? And why are you trying to get out of bed?" The last one was directed at the fact that Sakura was slowly trying to push herself into a standing position.

"I'm feeling fine Kero-chan," said guardian beast snorted in disbelief "I have to see Syaoran-kun and Otou-san." Kero softened at this.

"Well… just take it slowly, we don't need you harming yourself anymore than you already are."

Sakura nodded gratefully and began the slow journey out of her room, across the landing, one small step at a time.

"Sakura-chan," she glanced up at Tomoyo who smiled back "I was just coming to see if you were awake, Li-kun's been demanding to know how you are." Sakura smiled at this and tried not to show the fact that she was ready to sink to the floor and give up on her quest.

"Tomoyo-chan… could you, help me." Tomoyo nodded and linked her arms under Sakura's. Once they were in the living room she allowed Sakura to slump onto the sofa next to Syaoran, who immediately wrapped his arms around her and started asking her how he was. How he managed to ignore the death glares sent by Touya was a complete mystery to her.

Once it had been established that she was alright and that Syaoran was in a similar condition, she managed to distract her brother from his glare long enough to question her father's health.

"I'm not sure, he just fell over and seemed to be in a lot of pain before quickly losing consciousness. I took him to his room, but he has yet to wake up." He sighed gloomily and Yukito put his arm round his shoulders, drawing him close in a brief hug.

"I'm going back up to see how Otou-san is doing. I'll tell you when he wakes up." Touya tagged the last bit on when he saw a determined look appear in her eyes and had decided that killing herself trying to get back upstairs would not be a good idea.

Not long after he had left Yue emerged whilst Kero settled on the sofa next to Sakura. An air of seriousness replaced the worry as Sakura voiced the question they were all thinking.

"What happened?"

Kero hummed slightly before replying, "We're not exactly sure Sakura, whatever it was, it was attacking through you're magic, although, why Yue and I remained unaffected is a mystery to me." Sakura and Syaoran nodded in agreement, it would explain why they felt so drained.

"You don't think it was Eriol do you." Syaoran voiced the question more as a statement and everyone groaned at his suspicion.

"Syaoran-kun, it's been three years since we saw Eriol-kun, I doubt he'd be the one to do this, why would he?" Sakura was sure she heard him mumble something about Eriol being evil, but apart from that gave no response to her question.

They all sat in silence as the minutes passed by, the only sound was the ticking that marked the passing time as each allowed their thoughts to wrap them up in their own little world. Tick. Tick. Tick.

"I've got it!" Sakura's shout made all but Yue jump in shock and caused Kero to fall from his seat.

"We'll call Eriol-kun!" Sakura nodded her head in what she thought to be an intelligent way, proud of her idea.

Unfortunately the others didn't seem to see her genius.

"What!"

"We thought you'd figured it out!"

"Don't scare us like that!"

"…"

Sakura pouted at the negative response and somehow managed to override the clamour of voices.

"Eriol-kun knows the most about magic out of all of us," Kero pretended to be offended, "and besides, he said to call if anything strange happened and I'd say that this is strange." She left out the fact that he had told her this three years ago.

"She has got a point," Sakura smiled as Tomoyo realised her brilliance and Kero nodded in support. Yue stayed silent, so she took this as support. Syaoran however still disagreed.

"Sakura-chan, that guys nothing but trouble, you call him and just wait and see, we'll end up in an even bigger mess." He waved his arms in the air in order to emphasise the 'mess' he was envisioning. Sakura pulled a tongue in response, childish, but effective.

"Well I'm calling him anyway, so there." Feeling that she had made her point and, with a little help from Tomoyo, walked over to the phone, ignoring Syaoran's shouts that she was dooming them all.

* * *

Back with Eriol, who had recently awoken with the feeling that he had taken a bath in magma, it didn't help that not long after Nakuru pounced on him, hugging him while telling the whole neighbourhood (not that they had neighbours) how worried she had been about him. Thankfully, Spinel soon popped up and decided to save him from the menace that was Nakuru.

He had just managed to finish assuring them that yes, he was going to live when the phone decided it was a good time to make its presences known.

Eriol pondered on whether ignoring it would be a good idea, but eventually relented to the incessant ringing and picked it up, thankful that it was conveniently within reaching distances of the chair he had managed to drag himself to.

"Hello, Eriol speaking." For the next few minutes he listened in thoughtful silence, Nakuru and Spinel glanced at each other curiously and waited for Eriol to finish. He nodded a few times, though the person he was speaking to wouldn't be able to see, and after mumbling a few sentences put the phone down.

"Who was it?" Nakuru questioned.

"Sakura-chan." He didn't care to elaborate as he continued to mull over his thoughts and Nakuru curiously tilted her head. Glancing up he must have noticed her questioning look for he immediately broke into a wide smile.

"It seems that we'll be visiting Japan for a while."

**Author's Note**: It will get better and apologises if the suffixes are wrong, I've mainly picked them up from other stories.

Also, I'm not sure if I should send the guardians into the past as well, opinions on this would be appreciated.


	2. The Shadows that we Trace

**The Paradox Web**

**Chapter 2  
The Shadows that we Trace**

The people waiting at the airport decided that they had never seen such a strange sight before as another scream of "I'm coming Touya-kun!" broke the mutterings of conversations as a teenaged girl came running into the waiting area, arms in the air and hearts in her eyes. A long distance behind her followed a younger boy carrying what appeared to be a stuffed toy. Most people agreed that he was much to old for a stuffed toy and so took pity on his and his companions' obvious lack of mental stability.

The strange trio chose seats as the people closest scattered in fear as the girl continued chanting 'Touya-kun', some wondered if perhaps this Touya-kun was some sort of God and the girl was performing a kind of ritual. Others determined he must be an imaginary friend.

Eriol decided to add this incident to his list of embarrassing incidents, which he had just decided to create solely for this incident. Since learning that they would be departing for Japan, Nakuru had begun squealing and running around shouting Touya's name. Eriol sincerely pitied Touya for when they arrived in Japan. However, he decided he pitied himself more for having to put up with hours of Nakuru's chanting and shrieking.

At that moment Nakuru had decided to grab Spinel and squish him as her mantra became particularly high pitched. She leapt to her feat and spun around, Spinel helplessly flying around by his tail before being flung into the air and narrowly caught upon his descent. Eriol discreetly raised the book he had brought with them in an attempt to hide his face and pretend not to be associated with the fanatical guardian.

Sadly, Nakuru didn't seem to realise this new plan as she flung her arms around his neck and began squeezing the life out of his while screeching 'Touya-kun' in his ear. Any people that had remained by them hurriedly grabbed their belongings and rushed off whilst others simply stared in horror. Eriol gave them his trademark smile, which they sadly mistook for a sign of insanity. In the back of his mind Eriol briefly noted that Spinel was becoming a rather interesting shade of blue.

-

Many hours and many 'Touya-kun's' later, the group finally arrived in Japan. Somehow both Eriol and Spinel had managed to retain their sanity, and somehow Nakuru's voice box was still working as she ran off the plane searching for Touya. Unfortunately, no Touya-kun was to be found.

"Where is he?" was the question asked, accompanied by a quivering lip as she scanned the crowd.

"I didn't tell them when we would be coming." Eriol smiled as Spinel whispered something about Touya not coming even if he had known. But at Eriol's words Nakuru's face instantly brightened as she whirled to face him.

"But he'll be at the house… riiight?" To this Eriol just nodded and tried not to smirk. It would be nice to see someone else suffer after the long hours in the airport and on the plane. "Yay! Touya-kun!" But first he would have to survive the journey to the Kinomoto residence.

* * *

A knock at the door caught Sakura's attention, she gave a brief 'coming!' before rising. It was the day after the 'attack' and she was back to feeling as good as new, her father had also woken a few hours after her, though he was still recovering, he had however insisted that he was 'perfectly alright' and had immediately rushed off for a lecture at his university. Currently she, Syaoran and Kero had been trying to figure out what had happened, or that was the cover they used, none of them had a clue and had instead resorted to a game of monopoly. To the surprise of all Kero was currently winning, much to Syaoran's annoyance. The knock managed to interrupt before a full-scale war erupted.

She skipped to the door and opened it, but before she could get a good look at who it was, something pounced on her and squeezed, accompanied by a high pitched "Sakura!" She quickly figured that it was Nakuru, who quickly let go of her and dashed around her, heading in the direction of the stairs. A squeal of 'Touya-kun', a terrified scream and a thump announced that she had found her target.

Sakura turned back to the door to notice Eriol holding Spinel with a serene smile on his face, she had a sneaking suspicion that he took some delight in her brothers' misfortune.

"It's wonderful to see you again Sakura-chan." Sakura smiled back,

"It's great to see you as well after so long Eriol-kun, and you too of course Spinel-san." She laughed lightly and pattered Spinel on the head before waving Eriol in and directing him to the living room. Upon entering it was discovered that Kero had managed to claim several more areas and a railway, much to Syaoran's annoyance. Unfortunately for Syaoran, luck wasn't smiling on him today as he glanced up and spied Eriol. His scowl deepened considerably.

"It's lovely to see you my cute little descendant, and you too Kero-san." Obviously Eriol had decided to ignore the murderous look on Syaoran's face, which was soon added to with a death glare. Syaoran momentarily wondered that if he ignored Eriol he would simply disappear. He decided now would be a good time to test this. Kero merely waved back and gave a brief 'Howdy.'

Eriol must have noticed Syaoran pointedly ignoring him, for he raised his hand to his heart in mock pain, "Why Syaoran-kun, I'm hurt."

"Good." Was the snarled reply as a large amount of fake money was permanently disfigured, much to Kero's protests.

"Syaoran-kun, be nice." Sakura scolded and Syaoran gave her a pained look, before resuming his glaring at Eriol.

"Fine. Why, Hiiragizawa, it is such an honour to once more be bathed in your wisdom and might." The statement dripped in sarcasm and Sakura rolled her eyes to the ceiling with an expression that clearly said 'why do I bother'. Eriol's smile simply grew wider as he gave his reply, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Why Syaoran-kun, I didn't realise you thought so highly of me, but really, there's no need to go overboard." A snarl was the only response he received, along with muffled chuckling from Kero.

-

Approximately 15 minutes later the occupants of the household were all seated within the living room. Touya looked particularly dishevelled and had a 'zombie-look' on his face, Nakuru was, predictably, still clinging to him, though she had ceased her giggling. Kero and Suppi were sitting in the ruins of the monopoly game with Kero crying over the ruined money and Suppi trying to ignore the embarrassing behaviour. Syaoran, Sakura and Eriol occupied the other sofa, Syaoran had his arms wrapped protectively around Sakura and somehow still managed to glare at Eriol who was sitting on her other side.

They were just about to begin their discussion when another knock interrupted.

"I'll get it." Sakura made to rise, but Syaoran's grip tightened on her. "Or maybe not." She glanced at her brother who didn't seem to have registered the knock at all. Sighing, and with a slight struggle, she managed to wriggle out of Syaoran's hold and made her way to the door once more. Opening it she was greeted by Yukito carrying a bag filled with food and currently munching his way through a sandwich. Upon seeing her he smiled ad offered her one, which she refused.

"Touya said that it'd be a good idea if I came round more often since that weird attack." He took another bite of the sandwich as Sakura led him to join the others. He greeted the others before settling next to Touya, not fazed at all by the extra limb he seemed to have acquired in the form of Nakuru. Upon his arrival Touya seemed to be slightly more alive and actually seemed aware of his surroundings.

Once they were all settled, Sakura took the opportunity to explain to Eriol and his guardians what had happened during the attack, having only given a brief explanation over the phone. During the explanation, Syaoran noticed Nakuru opening her mouth, then quickly closing it again as Eriol shot her a warning look. He frowned slightly, Eriol knew something and was, as usual, not telling them.

"We know it was an attack on their magic, but we don't know why they were attacked, or who attacked them, or even why Yukito and I remained unaffected." Kero finished up the explanation as Eriol looked thoughtful once more.

"Have you not thought that perhaps this spell simply targets humans with magic?" His smile was in place as he posed the question. Sakura furrowed her brows, it did make sense, but it was such a weak explanation, then again, what other explanation could there be… Syaoran interrupted her thoughts.

"There's something you're not telling us." Eriol's smile widened.

"My my, so suspicious my dear descendant. Despite what you seem to think, I do not hold the answers to the universe." It was not lost on Syaoran that Eriol did nothing to deny his comment and instead chose to mutter,

"We are not asking for the answers to the universe." Eriol smiled sweetly but gave no reply.

-

"Why didn't you tell them that you were also affected?" Nakuru questioned, her and Spinel had made their way over to Eriol once the rest had begun discussing what to do and how to find their mysterious attacker, out of curiosity Nakuru had managed to detach herself from Touya in order to question the half-reincarnation.

"Simple, it appears as if this spell originated in Japan, as both my descendant and Sakura-chan were affected," Nakuru tilted her head as Fujitaka had been left out, "they will have also come to the same conclusion, though for a slightly different reason than I. Therefore, why would shockwaves from a spell in Japan affect me in England and yet touch no other sorcerer."

"Why indeed?" Eriol smiled mysteriously at this and Nakuru made no move to push her question, Eriol would tell them in his own sweet time and not a moment earlier.

* * *

The elegant rays of early sunshine were being swept away and shadows lengthened as the sky turned from its icy blue to a pumpkin orange tinged with pink. The suns head was dipping below the horizon and the group was no closer to an answer. They resolved to try a different method the next day as simple discussion over biscuits and monopoly didn't seem to be working very well. It was at this point Sakura decided to announce her idea.

"I think Syaoran-kun and Eriol-kun should stay over."

"WHAT!" Touya had leapt from his seat and was glaring furiously at his sister, then at the boys next to her, "there is no way I'm letting that gaki stay here! Who knows what he might try," Syaoran spluttered in protest at this, "as for him" a finger was pointed in Eriol's direction, "if he stays then this thing stays." The finger now rested on Nakuru who had somehow managed to stay clinging to Touya after he'd stood up. "No way are they staying."

"But Onii-chan, Syaoran-kun lives on his own now, if we were attacked again, there'd be no one there to help," Touya wasn't fazed, "besides, it'd be safer if everyone stayed together."

"No"

Sakura puffed her cheeks indignantly at this. "Fine, I'll just ring Otou-san, he'll let them stay."

Touya just rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Whatever kaijuu, but just keep them away from me… and make sure you lock your door," a nod, "and every other door for that matter," another nod, "and tie down that gaki to make sure he doesn't move." Sakura sweatdropped as the irritated gaki shouted that he wasn't about to try anything with Sakura. Touya merely gave him a suspicious glare which clearly said 'I'm watching you.' "Where's everyone going to sleep anyway?"

"Oh, err, hadn't thought about that," Sakura smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, "well, I guess Syaoran-kun and Eriol-kun could sleep on the sofa's…"

"WHAT!" This time the enraged shout came from Syaoran, "I'm not sleeping in the same room as him! He'll dye my hair purple or something and make me do the cancan while standing on my hands!" Touya snickered and seemed to completely support the idea whilst Eriol made a mental note of it. Sakura just gave him a strange look.

"I'm sure Eriol-kun would do no such thing, besides there's really no other choice, there isn't really anywhere else to sleep." Syaoran gave a pained look at this, but resigned himself to, what he believed to be, a night in hell.

"Well what about this?" Touya once more prodded Nakuru who was still firmly attached to his neck.

"Who me? That's easy, I'll share with you Touya-kun." Touya spluttered at this and looked around desperately,

"No, afraid you can't, Yuki's sharing with me!" Nakuru pouted at this while Yukito looked surprised,

"Actually Toya, I was just about to go home."

"Oh no, you heard what the kaijuu said," there was a faint protest of 'hey', "we've all got to stick together." He nodded his head madly at this which managed to briefly dislodge Nakuru. Yukito smiled at this whilst the rest laughed lightly.

"Fine fine," Nakuru sighed in defeat, "I'll sleep with Eriol then." Silence. Then all but three burst out laughing, Nakuru stood there smiling, either oblivious to what everyone found so funny or just not caring. Sakura looked around with a 'huh?' expression on her face. Eriol wondered whether he should cover his face in shame at his guardians' poor wording, or if he should just continue smiling like nothing happened. Syaoran soon decided for him.

"Why Hiiragizawa, I never realised." He smirked, obviously enjoying the rare opportunity to torment the reincarnation.

Eriol smiled back, though there was a hint of annoyance in his tone as he smoothly replied, "at least Nakuru's female." He looked pointedly at Yukito and grinned bitterly at his descendants death glare and embarrassed blush as the crowd 'ooh'd'. Sakura continued to look about in complete confusion.

A few minutes passed and the laughter eventually died out, followed by a few coughs,

"Well… at least that's sorted out." Yukito smiled as he tried to break the tension that had now settled. It didn't work.

Silence reigned once more then,

"HOE!"

"Sakura-chan's finally caught on."

* * *

The shadows of noon had stretched to engulf the sleepy little house, an eerie, sickly-white full moon floated within the ocean of darkness that had quickly swept in to blanket the billowing clouds of orange. Specks of light begun to emerge from the dark swamp, the stars glittering as jewels. A low roar like thunder rumbled through the air, but it was not this that woke the sleepy occupants of that sleepy house.

Eriol was the first to wake as the foreign magic nudged his senses, blinking blearily to clear the sleep he tried to focus more on it, but it was slippery as an eel and would slide and fade away. Curious, he poked further, a slight burning was enough warning for him to withdraw from the odd substance. The magic rippled out once more, its purpose to seek, and Eriol noticed the slight acidic edge to it. This was the same magic from the last attack.

Prying himself away from Nakuru, who seemed to have decided that Eriol was now her teddy bear, he slunk out of his sofa-turned-bed, glancing over to the other sofa he saw sleepy amber eyes peering back. Syaoran clambered of the sofa and moved over to where Eriol stood.

"You felt that magic, right?" Eriol nodded in confirmation, footsteps heading downstairs soon announced that Sakura had also sensed it.

"Hoe, it's the same thing as last time," whispering to avoid waking others, she didn't notice Syaoran's light blush when he noticed her in pyjamas. He shook his head lightly to clear it.

"Why's it not attacking this time?" Sakura bit her nail in contemplation, while Eriol gazed at the far wall, a thoughtful expression on his face. "No ideas?" a sudden grin appeared on Syaoran's face, "well why don't we go find out." His sword materialised to help emphasises his intent. Eriol slowly nodded in agreement.

"Shouldn't we wake up Kero-chan and the rest?" Eriol shook his head is response to Sakura's question.

"No need, they'll come if we require them."

Slowly the three crept out the house and into the cold crisp air of night, the air bit at their flesh and instantly the three regretted not getting changed, but as Syaoran said, 'there are more important matters.' Sakura and Eriol weren't sure if they agreed, but neither bothered to argue. Eriol glanced at the sky and noticed the ashen moon,

"A full moon… how interesting." His musings were cut off by an impatient gesture from Syaoran, and he hurried to catch up.

The three skulked down the silent streets, the streetlights burned bright in the dark, distorting the colours and casting an unnatural orangey glow on the otherwise bleak surroundings. The air was still and silent and in its place hung a mysterious and sleepy atmosphere, for these are the dead hours upon which our heroes walk, their feet pattering gently upon the ground was the only sound to be heard, the broken rhythm echoing back and ghosting their steps.

Sakura shivered at the abnormal silence before turning to her companions,

"I'm going to take a look around." She nodded towards the black heavens and they nodded in understanding. Taking out her key she muttered the incantation to transform it into the staff. Pulling out a card she threw it into the air, hitting it at its peak height, "Fly." The wings burst from her back, a pale pink which was instantly tinged orange from the streetlights. Crouching low, she launched herself high into the air.

The silence pervaded, even at such great heights, and Sakura viewed the slumbering town that had been blanketed in the orange mist-like light, at such heights the streetlight was unable to taint the air, the moons light dominated the upper atmosphere, turning the clothes Sakura wore an eerie white. Everything seemed silent, dead, Sakura slowly turned, trying to spot anything strange. There, over to the left, a flicker of darkness had spiked into the air, ripping the sky open for a moment before receding.

Sakura swiftly descended to tell her companions what she had seen, both nodded at her information, silently agreeing that this was to be their destination. Eriol rose into the air, following his lead, Sakura transferred the fly card to her staff and her and Syaoran soon followed him into the air.

They flew swiftly towards their destination, all focused on getting there. None of them took interest in the many small houses they flew over, each very similar, the colours varying only slightly in the strange shades of night, each window blackened, each door bolted and each occupant locked soundly into their dreams.

The first sight they caught of the beast were the black tendrils that rolled of it and reached towards the sky before furling back in on themselves and returning to the heaving blackness. The creature was about the size of a house and was made from a mass of shadows, black and greys consumed its form.

Sakura skimmed close to the ground and Syaoran leapt off, raising his sword in offence, Sakura regained her wings and hovered above the ground, staff poised and ready. Eriol floated further back from the other two, he had yet to summon his staff and instead observed the creature curiously.

The mass of shadows writhed and twisted, its form unstable, blurring at the edges, occasionally the shadows would be sucked inwards and a hazy human shape could be made out. Eriol noticed that a murky, dreamlike mist seemed to have descended upon them, as if condemning the existence of this creature within reality. Its form distorted violently and time around them seemed to pause, the haze grew deeper, a falling leaf stopped mid fall before continuing its descent as the shadows recollected themselves. Two white-hot coals burnt through the shadows as a mockery of eyes, burning with an inner rage. Syaoran snarled at it before turning to glare suspiciously at Eriol.

"This better not be another one of your tricks Hiiragizawa."

"I'd love to say it was little wolf." He replied lightly and Syaoran, still frowning, turned back to the creature.

Eriol frowned slightly, there was something strange, something unreal about this creature, and so he stayed back and watched the scene as his companions crouched, poised for battle.

The shadows gathered, swarming together and soon the form of an arm could be seen, slowly reaching forward, vaguely heading for the space between Syaoran and Sakura, the two warily raised their weapons, waiting. The arm lunged forward, growing rapidly as it gained speed. Syaoran cried out in surprise and dived to the side, swiping at the shadows as he did so. The sword slid through easily, the shadows parted to let it pass before knitting themselves together once more. A pain flared in his arm and glancing down he noticed a tear on his shoulder, blood beginning to well in the shallow cut.

The world flashed briefly and darkness rolled out from the monsters hand, rippling out and covering Syaoran and Sakura, their cries more from shock than pain as their magic rippled and tore away in response to the shadows. The dark wave soon passed, the shadows of the arm swelled and fattened out, soon reforming the giant mass of shadow.

Syaoran staggered to his feet, snarling in annoyance as he felt his magic dwindling from the attack, it was as if the dark wave that had consumed them had sucked out his magic, its shadows had prodded and poked at his magic before drawing parts of it away. To his right he saw Sakura's wings flapping rapidly as she regained her balance, then pull out another card.

"Firey!" The flames burst forward from the card, a trail of burning rage heading straight for the shadows, in moments they had been engulfed in fire. Red and black twisted together, fighting for dominance as they leapt into the air, clawing at one another. The beast roared in pain, though where the sound had come from was unclear as it no visible mouth, but it shook the ground and the world trembled before Syaoran's eyes.

Then the roar stopped, the shadows became almost translucent, the fire grasped at the bleary tendrils, but they slipped through its grip. With nothing to burn the fire soon died out, returning to the pink card. But the creature was still there, its eyes ablaze with inner fury, the shadows danced madly over its surface.

"What happened?" Sakura whispered her question, glancing from the card to the creature, confusion and worry evident in her eyes.

"Very interesting indeed." Eriol's voice was calm and Syaoran glanced back to notice that he was away from him and Sakura and with no weapon in hand.

"Why don't you help instead of just watching." He bit out angrily, and before Eriol could give a reply he pulled out an ofuda and threw it into the air, slamming his sword onto it he cried, "God of Thunder!" Lightning surged from the paper, the air crackled with electricity, and over the static he was sure he heard Eriol's reply.

"You shouldn't waste your magic, especially when you have so little left." But the little wolf ignored the words and focused and on the crackling light. The lightning met the shadows, lingering a moment it snapped at them before it too, passed through and sizzled out of existence.

_What should we do against a monster that can't be hurt?_ Syaoran ground his teeth in annoyance, but before he could find an answer the creature roared once more.

The familiar burning sensation rushed over them and Syaoran doubled over, growling in pain. Through the slits of his eyes he saw Sakura reeling in pain, the wings on her back flapping madly as the fly card acted independently, trying to keep its mistress afloat. He felt the acidic burning rush over his aura and through his magic. This time however, it wasn't lingering, the spell shot through him, the pain instant but quick, and soon it began to recede, leaving behind a sharp, but not overwhelming pain.

He heard a gasp and turned quickly, ignoring the blast of pain it caused him, then a cry of 'Windy!'. The Windy card rushed from its card, gathering around the unconscious form of Eriol. At the same time the shadow creature reached forward, an arm quickly forming, then a hand and claws, it swiped out at the falling boy, its claws inches from him when they suddenly disintegrated. The shadows began to fall apart, bits and pieces flying skyward, out of its disappearing hand a burning ember floated, following Eriol to the ground.

The shadows unravelled themselves at a quicker pace now and the beast snarled in annoyance. In moments the whole thing had disappeared, and it was as if it had never been there, not a mark nor trace lingered.

He glanced to Sakura once more and saw her straining against unconsciousness, she bit her lip and furrowed her brows in concentration as the windy gently guided Eriol to the ground. As soon as his body touched the earth, Sakura's from went limp, her eyes closed as she sunk into oblivion. The wings disappeared as her magic receded to her core to regenerate and she began to fall.

Syaoran pushed himself forward, gritting his teeth against the pain that flared in his body and managed to run in Sakura's direction, stretching his arms he was able to reach her in time and she dropped into them and he collapsed under her weight and his own exhaustion.

He allowed himself to rest for a few moments, but the lightening of the sky told him to get a move on before curious neighbours decided to investigate. Heaving himself to his feat he looked to where Eriol had landed, which he judged to be someone's back garden. _He'll have to stay there, I can't carry both of them._ The wolf nodded to himself as he assured himself that Eriol would be fine. Then dropping to Sakura's body, he managed to arrange her so he would be carrying her piggyback. Not overly romantic, but it was the easiest way he decided.

The time from lifting her to arriving back at the Kinomoto residence passed as a blur for Syaoran, he hazily remembered swapping between chanting 'just one more step' and questioning why the guardians hadn't come after all. Once he reached the house his question was answered.

The four guardians were all sprawled out in the living room, all obviously deep in unconscious. In his mind Syaoran wondered what was so different this time, why had they been affected. But his brain was not in the mood for answering more questions, all it demanded was sleep, which Syaoran quite happily gave it as he slumped onto the sofa, Touya carrying Sakura to her bed.

However, as his mind was on the edge of sleep, where it runs through the strangest of things. In the world between reality and dreams, his mind whispered the answer to him. For the guardians where not as they were last time, for now they all wore their true forms.

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**Author's Note**: Before anyone says, I am not in any way trying to insult gay people, since I just know some people will take Eriol's comment the wrong way. Apologises if anyone was offended.

I was in a strange mood when writing the nighttime part.

Reviews make me happy and are good motivation.


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